


eating salt together

by malo_malo



Category: Community
Genre: Coming Out, F/F, Secret Relationship, Secrets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-31
Updated: 2010-01-31
Packaged: 2017-11-09 04:45:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/451436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/malo_malo/pseuds/malo_malo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Can you keep a secret?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	eating salt together

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [Porn Battle IX](http://oxoniensis.dreamwidth.org/25077.html); the title is from the Cicero saying "trust no one unless you have eaten much salt with him". Originally posted [here](http://malo-malo.livejournal.com/8335.html).

Everything’s weird at Greendale, so it’s nice that at least the frat parties are normal. Actually, they’re not called ‘fraternities’—the Dean said they were ‘service organizations’? Britta knew three shots ago—but it’s the same sort of thing with cheap beer, sticky floors, and way too loud music. The only reason she’s reliving her high school days is because Annie had expressed an interest in going to one for a psychology class or something, Britta had tuned her out, and had wanted someone to go with her to make sure nobody snuck anything into her drink.

“Not that I’ll be drinking,” she had said, “this is strictly for business. Also, I’d really appreciate it if you didn’t tell the others. You know how they are, they’ll want to come along, and then the party won’t be an accurate representation.”

Britta had shrugged, and Annie had clapped her hands together in glee. She’d figured that Annie was kidding about the whole ‘not drinking’ thing—what’s the point in going to frat party if you don’t want to get drunk?—but Annie had shown up with a small notebook and had taken up a station in a corner diligently jotting down her observations.

Britta had wandered off to play beer pong after ten minutes of awkwardly standing next to her, and returned victorious to find a guy wearing letters trying to get Annie to do jello shots with him. She’s clearly uncomfortable but having difficulty getting him to leave her alone. Britta bet’s she’s not used to shrugging off slimy guys; it’s probably why Annie took to Jeff so fast.

“Come on, baby,” the guy implores, “just do one with me, what’s it gonna hurt?”

Britta grabs one of the shots. “Back off, buddy,” she says, sidling up and slinging her other arm around Annie, “she’s not interested.”

“Should have known she was a lesbian,” the guy mutters angrily, as he walks away.

“Yeah, well, I should have known you’re a jerk,” Britta yells after him, but her shout is swallowed up by the music, and he shows no sign of having heard her.

She gestures at the shot, “I’m an addict,” Annie says, looking somewhat panicked, “I’m not supposed to drink, and what if he put something in it?” Britta just shrugs and downs it herself.

“Can you keep a secret?” Annie whispers comically loudly after a minute into Britta’s ear.

"Totally," Britta replies a little too eagerly, and after seeing Annie's dubious look, quickly elaborates, "I mean, I kept Troy's dancing a secret."

She tries to stand up straighter and look less drunk, but that wasn’t exactly the first shot she’d had that night, and the beer pong game had been close, so it’s sort of a losing battle.

“I don’t think I want to marry Troy anymore,” Annie blurts out in a rush.

"Annie, that's great! Is that the real reason you asked me to go to this party?” Britta exclaims, genuinely excited for her friend.

“No, I have to write a paper,” Annie answers, “but it’s the reason why I asked you. Well, you also seem to be a person who goes a lot of parties, so I thought you’d be an expert.” Britta magnanimously decides to not take offense, especially since Annie seems to be more upset about this than she should be.

“What if I won’t ever like anybody again?” Annie confesses, peering at her notebook intently instead of meeting Britta’s eyes.

“What? No, that’s ridiculous.”

“I’ve never actually liked anybody but Troy, even the guy I lost my virginity to, and what if he’s the only person I can love?” Annie asks, her anxiety visible.

So, Britta kisses her. It seems like the right thing to do at the time. Annie pushes her away, “My parents will be expecting me,” she says, and darts out the door. Britta leaves the party afterward; she’s no longer in the mood for beer pong or fending off gross guys while attempting to dance.

***

At first they don’t tell anybody about it because it was only the one time. And then when it happens again—Annie backs Britta into a supply closet after a particularly grueling Spanish class on Thursday—it’s still not something the group needs to know about, even if Britta feels a little guilty about not being open with them. When it starts to become regular thing, they still don’t tell anybody because it’d be too difficult to explain why they didn’t come clean sooner. Plus, it’s true that the sneaking makes the sex 37 percent better.

***

"Are you and Annie best friends now?" Abed asks her after Spanish class a few weeks later.

"No, why?" Britta answers, puzzled.

"You've been spending a lot of time together and now you sit next to each other in study group" he answers inscrutably. She spends about five seconds freaking out before he continues, "you should be, then you'd be like Betty and Veronica, except without the competition over Archie."

Britta pauses before asking carefully, "Am I Betty or Veronica?"

"Even though you’re blonde,” Abed says, "Veronica."

Troy laughs, "It's funny because it's true," and walks off with Abed before she can think of a snappy comeback.

***

"Where you really in the Peace Corps?" Annie asks her one day as they're making out in Britta's car. Britta constantly feels like Greendale is just like high school, and the hooking up in parking lots has only solidified her opinion. She's half expecting a police officer to knock on the window and ask her to step outside for a minute, or, worse, Greendale's version of security officers.

"No, they really only take people who've gone to college," Britta replies, panting, annoyed at the interruption. At Annie's disappointed look, she says, "I was a foot model though, that was a weird job," and leans forward to recapture her mouth and shut her up.

***

Shirley corners her at Jeff and Professor Slater's three month anniversary party/celebration of the longest romantic relationship that Jeff's managed to hold on to/drunk driving awareness event (last week, The Human Being got smashed and crashed the Dean's fancy new golf cart) and asks her if she's one hundred percent okay. Britta just smiles enigmatically, assures Shirley that she's two hundred percent all right, and asks if the coffee in her mocha brownies is fair trade.

***

"I'm not really eighteen," Annie blurts out in a rush as just as Britta starts to slowly kiss up her thigh.

"What?" she mummers, before continuing to move upwards, feeling her skin twitch under her lips.

"I'm not really eighteen. I had to repeat kindergarten because my family moved after the first time and I wasn't old enough to start first grade in the new school district, so I lied to everybody and said I was a year younger than I actually am," Annie continues, "I thought you should know in case you were worried about corrupting me," her voice rising in pitch the higher Britta moves.

In reply, she bites Annie’s leg right where it joins the rest of her body, and she arches up and slides her hands into Britta's hair, shutting up for a while.

***

Jeff bounds up to her while she’s lying out on the quad during one of the first nice days in a while.

“Britta, hey, this may be kinda weird, but there’s this guy in one of my classes that I think is your type,” he says, “what do you say about letting me give him your number as an apology for breaking you and Vaughan up?”

“First off, that was a long time ago, and second, no,” Britta replies, sitting up.

"Yeah, well, I feel kind of bad about it. And why not? He likes that band that you like, you know, the one I can’t stand.”

“Tempting, but I’m gonna have to say no,” she answers and lies back down.

“Is there a reason why you won’t even consider it? Are you still hung up on me or something?”

Britta laughs the hardest at this than she has in a long time, continuing on even after he walks away offended, and she’s weirded out all of the people around her.

***

“I want you to meet my parents,” Annie announces right as she reaches down to pull off Britta’s panties.

“You have to stop talking about these sorts of things during sex,” Britta grumbles, “it really ruins the mood.” Annie crosses her arms in reply and levels an annoyed stare at her.

“Oh, all right,” she agrees. Annie claps her hands together happily, and before Britta can protest about that also being a turn-off, even if it does make her boobs jiggle nicely, Annie’s slid two fingers inside of her and crooked them just the way she likes it. Britta suddenly finds she has very little to complain about.

***

It goes poorly. Maybe informing Annie’s parents at Shabbos was a bad idea, because when her mother freaks out and flails her arm around, she knocks over the candles and sets the fancy lace tablecloth that’s been in the family for generations on fire. But, hey, hindsight’s twenty-twenty, and at least they didn’t kick Annie out or refuse to pay her college tuition. Plus, as Annie says through her tears later, it was a good trial run for telling the group.

***

“So,” Britta says after study group on Monday and takes Annie’s hand, “Annie and I have something we’d like to announce.”

Shirley’s the only one who notices, since the guys are caught up in an argument over whether Lady Gaga is hot under her all of her makeup ("I thought she was a dude," Pierce interjects) but she gasps and Oh my’s as she’s prone to.

“Yeah,” Britta continues, “we’ve been sort of seeing each other. For a while now, and I thought it would be good to tell you guys.” Everybody’s staring at them in shock. Jeff’s mouth is literally hanging open, and she wants badly to take a picture, in order to commemorate one of the rare times that Jeff Winger doesn't have something to say.

Pierce’s the first to recover, “I always knew you were a lesbian.”


End file.
